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Tuesday, August 30, 2016

My wife went to a back-to-school moms breakfast in the ward last week, and one of the women lamented that there is no Church program to teach her sons things like budgeting, and other, uh, "personal management." Aside from the fact that that's a mom's and dad's job description, I infer that the comment was made, in part, because she, like so many others, never saw Scouting as anything more than a patch-collecting chore.

Eric the Half-bee

The Volun-Told Oath

On my honor, I will do my bestTo do my “Duty to God” book and my Spalding,And to obey, honor and sustain some laws;To help other people when Br. Franklin organizes a Service Project™;To keep my avatar virtually strong, stay awake and morally clean too.

If this is a reflection of a Troop you know,blame the grown-ups, not the boys.

What's all this, then?

When I was on Active Duty in the Air Force, we'd refer to someone's being assigned a job they didn't want as having been volun-told. Scouters in the LDS Church are typically not volunteers, but are "called to serve" in Scouting positions. And so, we're an army of volun-tolds doing the best we can in a job we probably never would have asked for.

In late 2010, I was asked to serve as an Assistant Scoutmaster in my ward. This is my 4th or 5th Church Scouting assignment, but it's the first time I've really jumped in with both feet [edit - in late 2013, I was released from this responsibility, but I'm still a MBC]. Since then, I've learned a ton about what Scouting is, but more especially what it isn't, and fielded lots of questions from parents and others. This blog is intended to collect those ideas into a useful format, address those "traditions which are not correct", and to be a resource to other parents and Scouters.

This blog is not affiliated with either the LDS Church or the BSA. It is simply one dude's attempt to clear up confusion. The opinions stated here are mine, with citations to actual policies as required. I figure that if I'm going to say something is definitive, I at least owe you the source for that definition.